The Red Scarf
by Robastar34
Summary: The day Papyrus got his scarf was the day Sans first dunked someone. (The skeleton brothers are taken to an orphanage, and Sans is definitely having a bad time)


**I don't own Undertale, though that would be pretty fucking awesome tbh**

"What?! Gaster, he…?! He's…"

 _It…it wasn't supposed to be like this…why…_

"I'm sorry…but…d-don't worry, child. It will…be alright."

 _No, it wasn't going to be alright. Didn't they understand? He had just lost his father_. _His father was…he was…_

"This will be your new home."

 _He didn't want a new home. He was so incredibly happy with his old house. He wanted that one back. He wanted his dad back…he wanted to go back home._

"We'll take good care of you..."

 _He wanted to go home…._

Everyone had been shocked to find out about the death of Dr. Gaster. He had been someone who held a great soul. Even though some criticized his work, most of the monsters looked up to the royal scientist.

That's why the news of his death had brought despair upon many souls.

None of those souls suffered as much, however, as the soul of a short skeleton child. The news had…destroyed him.

Before he could even fully process his father's death, everything changed. The same day that he learned the news of his father, two monsters had gone to his house. They gathered his belongings and took him away.

He, along with his younger brother Papyrus, were moved to an orphanage.

Papyrus, however, was too young to understand what was going on. He just smiled brightly as the two monsters informed him that they were going to go to a new house. He didn't understand. He didn't know what they were doing in a new place, he didn't understand…didn't understand that their dad was never coming back.

He took the new home with great joy and enthusiasm, but Sans...he wasn't able to share his brothers enthusiasm. His eyes always looked so empty, light having extinguished from them long ago. It didn't take long for him to hate the new 'home.'

He didn't care that the food was good.  
He didn't care that the caretakers were nice to him.  
He didn't care that there was a playground and lots of snacks.  
He loathed this wretched place.

It wasn't home. It was full of strange children. _His dad wasn't here_ …

However, there was a bigger reason Sans hated the orphanage.

"Hey look, it's skele-freak!"

 _Because of them._

Sans tensed and pulled up his red scarf, trying to hide his face, but it was too late.

Three monsters stood in front of him, making Sans' soul fall down to his stomach. He knew the three of them oh too well. The monster on the left was nothing but a white red-eyed bunny monster called Malcom. The monster on the right was weirder. He had a dark blue hoodie on, and had orange curled horns along with light orange fur. Sans knew him. His name was Zack. The one that stood out however was the one in the middle. He was gray, had two horns on his head, and razor sharp teeth with small claws. His name was Rick, and he was, what Sans considered, the 'leader of the bullies.' Rick grinned down at Sans, who was staring at the ground quietly.

"Hey, freak!" Rick said harshly. Sans didn't respond and kept his eyes on the ground. The gray monster got a little ticked off by this, but the grin never left his face.

"What, are you deaf? I wouldn't doubt it, since you don't have any ears!" His two friends busted out laughing as if it was the funniest joke they had ever heard. Yet Sans still didn't respond, much to Ricks' dislike. Rick growled softly and clenched his fists.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" He snapped and shoved Sans hard. Sans' eyes widened as he stumbled back, but managed to catch himself before he tripped. Ricks' cool façade faded, leaving behind his anger. His yellow eyes glowed brightly with a burning rage.

"I bet your dad hated you, that's why he left. He'd have rather died than deal with a failure of a kid like you." Sans eyes widened as his soul clenched painfully. The hurt, however, was quickly replaced with fury.

Without any hint of hesitation, he punched Rick in the face as hard as he could.

The force made Rick take a couple of steps back, both in pain and shock as blood started to trail down his mouth and dripped from his chin. Sans glared at him, huffing angrily and ignoring his pulsing fists. Rick quickly snapped out of it though and his eyes filled with an indescribable wrath.

Before Sans knew what was going on, he was thrown on the floor and held down by Malcom and Zack. He struggled against them, but stopped when Rick slowly walked towards him.

"Do you want to have a bad time…?" He growled darkly.

…

Sans dragged himself to the nurse with a crack on his head and several on his arms. She had food that healed him. There would be no scars or wounds…no scars…

It had been out of the blue when Papyrus first asked. He had been sitting on the edge of the bed when his little brothers question came.

"When is dad coming back?" Papyrus suddenly asked, looking at Sans. Sans tensed and clenched his hands, straightening. Papyrus didn't know. He hadn't understood when Sans had told him that Gaster was gone. He didn't know that Gaster was dead.

"I miss him. When is he coming for us?" Papyrus asked again after Sans stayed quiet.

Sans gulped and slowly looked at his younger brother, who was looking back at him with wide innocent eyes. Sans' soul twisted painfully.

"D…don't you like it here, Pap?" He finally asked. Papyrus frowned and looked down, playing with his toy car.  
"Well, yeah, but I want to go back home."

Sans didn't know what to do or say. He felt dread fill him up and he slowly looked down again, pulled up his red scarf to cover his mouth, and said nothing else. Papyrus stared at him for a minute or two before he sighed softly and went to sit on his own bed, which was across from Sans'. He pulled his knees to his chest and sniffed softly.

"I miss dad…" Papyrus muttered before hiding his face on his knees and shaking softly. Sans didn't say anything but glanced up at him. His chest twisted painfully and he unconsciously tightened his grip on his scarf.

He missed him too…

Sans sat on his bed, hugging his knees and staring at the door. It was pitch black inside and out. The only sound was the noise of Papyrus' loud snoring. In between Papyrus' and Sans' bed stood a nightstand, which had a digital clock on top of it.

Sans glanced at it.

12:54 am.

…this was around the time that Gaster used to come home. He'd come back from the lab, exhausted, yet knowing that his oldest son was awake and waiting for him with a giant smile on his face. Even exhausted, Gaster always looked forwards to this. The both of them would stay up together, talking and laughing, eating junk food and making jones and horrible puns, along with deep secrets and stories.

Sans would always wait in his room, waiting for a light under the door to show up, waiting to hear the sound of footsteps in the hallway before he'd run out of the room to welcome his father back.

…Sans stared at the closed door.

Any second now.

At any moment now, he'd hear his dad in the hallway, dragging his feet, see the light under the door.  
Any second...

…any second now…

 _Step, step, step..._

Sans eyes widened as a light suddenly shown from the other side of the door, showing up under the door and the sound of footsteps filled the hallway outside his room. He practically threw himself out of bed and ran to the door, a huge hopeful smile growing on his face and eyes filled with hopeful tears as he threw it open. _It's dad…dad, Dad!_ He couldn't help but feel, starting to feel his soul swell with love.

…his hopes and dreams quickly shattered at the sight in front of him, however.

"Sans? Is that you?" A caretaker asked, looking at him with wide eyes...it wasn't Gaster.

"What're you doing up? It's way too late-" He slammed the door shut before she finished talking, his bones rattling.

Slowly, he walked back to bed, each step feeling heavier than the last one. It…He thought…he was sure…  
His hope had been turned into an unexplainable sorrow as his tears of happiness quickly turned into ones of despair. He curled up under his blankets and hugged his red scarf as tightly as he could.

He sat on a bench by the playground. This was usually where he was every single day, all day. He did nothing but stare at the grass grow and let the feeling of emptiness grow more and more. The caretakers would worry about him and try to get him to make friends or do any activity, but he never budged. He simply stared at them, expressionless as they gave him a pity smile and tried to convince him to join the other children. He wouldn't even reply to any of Papyrus' attempts to get him to play with him, so Papyrus always spent most of the day with the other kids.

…

He was so lonely.

Sans started to shake and reached up to grab his scarf tightly.

He wanted to go back home, he wanted his dad back, he-

"Hey, it's skele-freak!" Sans eyes widened and he quickly jumped to his feet, already starting to run away from that spot he was in, but before he got far he bumped into somebody hard and fall on his butt. He looked up slowly and dread filled him when he saw white, orange, and grey.

He was too slow.  
Fear started to wrap around him as a cruel grin spread across Ricks face.

"Hey, Sans, ready to have a bad time?!"

…

He dragged himself to the nurses' office with a crack through his left eye and a broken foot.

"Sans!" Papyrus yelled, tugging at Sans blue sweater. Sans looked at him but didn't respond. Papyrus frowned. "I want to know where dad is!" He yelled again, making Sans cringe. God, not this again…

"I want to know where dad is! Tell me where he is!"

"Stop, Papyrus…" Sans muttered softly, pulling his arm away from Papyrus. God, he couldn't do this. He couldn't tell his little brother that their dad was never coming back for them.

But Papyrus was persistent. He had been asking for his father for weeks, and Sans had never given him an answer. He was tired of asking. He wanted to go home, he wanted to go home to his dad. Filled with determination, Papyrus glared at Sans stubbornly and a hint of sorrow.

" _No_! _Tell me_! I want to go home, I want to go home!" Papyrus yelled, small orange tears starting to form in the corner of his eyes. Sans grit his teeth, starting to get frustrated. He had refused to answer Papyrus' question for so long. He couldn't do this. He didn't _want_ to.

"Papyrus, stop." Sans said sternly. But Papyrus had none of it and tugged his sweater harder, his tears starting to fall.

"I want to go home! Tell me where dad is! I wanna know I wanna know!" Sans patience was starting to run low as frustration starting filling him. He clenched his fists tightly.

"Papyrus, shut up!" He snapped. The only thing that accomplished however was to make Papyrus cry harder.  
" _I WANNA GO HOME_!"

"WELL, WE'RE NEVER GOING BACK THERE!" Sans finally snapped, making Papyrus flinch back. His tears started falling faster, eyes wide. Sans had never yelled at him before.

Sans glared at him, tiny blue tears starting to gather in his eyes. He was so frustrated, so mad, he had been keeping it to himself for weeks and weeks and his brother was acting like a clueless brat _did he not know the pain Sans was going through_?

"DON'T YOU GET IT?!" He yelled at Papyrus. "DAD IS NEVER COMING BACK! WE'RE NEVER GOING BACK HOME! DAD IS DEAD! HE'S _DEAD_!"

Everything was still for a second, the only sound coming from Sans' angry pants of air. Tension laced the air. It did nothing to help the frustration and sorrow the skeleton brothers were facing.

Papyrus stared at Sans, shocked, before his face started crunching up in pain and tears started falling out without end.

He closed his eyes tightly and let out a wail. He yelled at Sans, although it was difficult to understand him through his sobs and breaths. Sans stared at his brother, not knowing what to do as the anger slowly left him.

 _What…what had he done…?_

 _What was he SUPPOSED to do…he couldn't…he…_

He shakily reached up and pulled up his red scarf to cover his mouth, then walked past the crying Papyrus and walked out of their room.

The caretakers knew about the bullying that Sans was going through. They weren't oblivious, and had tried to stop it many many times. Yet all of their efforts seemed hopeless. The three monsters wouldn't leave him alone.

There would be times when Sans would tell an adult of the harassment he faced with them. The group of three would get in trouble and get grounded…however, right after their punishment was over, they'd hunt Sans down and beat him up harder than they had before.

This happened several times before he realized it was hopeless.

After a while, Sans gave up on trying to stop them. He knew that adults wouldn't be able to help him, so he decided to try and deal with it on his own. Aka, hide. He'd hide and pray that they wouldn't find him. He was clear most of the times, but they'd be able to catch him sometimes.

He had different excuses for every time he went to the nurses' office.

 _I fell down the stairs.  
I tripped.  
I hit my head on the door.  
I fell out of bed.  
I fell out of a tree I was climbing. _

…

Sans clutched his red scarf tightly.

He hated it here.

After he had snapped at Papyrus, the younger brother had been strangely quiet and distant. Even after it had been bluntly said, he was just a small toddler and didn't understand the concept of death, but he still knew that something was wrong.

Although he had been oblivious to it before, he could sense the sorrow that Sans was carrying. So he had been glued to Sans side, and nothing could get him to separate from his older brother. He no longer went to play with the other kids, rather he chose to keep the company of Sans.

If Sans went to the playground, Papyrus went with him. If he went to the cafeteria, Papyrus would follow, if he went to the bathroom, Papyrus would wait outside.

Sans, although he was guilty for snapping at his brother, he never gathered the courage to apologize.

But having his brother suddenly be very attached to him had brought the two of them closer. With his younger brother by his side, Sans finally started to let go of a little of his depression. The two would talk and keep conversations, and sometimes Sans would make really bad puns just to see his brother get greatly frustrated.

He started to love Papyrus' company.

But the problem with having Papyrus follow him around was the fact that Sans had to be extra careful of where to go now.

His bullies.

Papyrus didn't know he was bullied, he had absolutely no clue that other monsters were beating up Sans and telling him horrible, cruel things.

That didn't matter, all he had to do was be extra careful to avoid them, extra careful on which room he went into, he had to be aware of the monsters that were in the same room as him.

As long as he did this, as long as he was cautious, Papyrus wouldn't have to deal with the bullies and see them torture his older brother.

…

But…

He messed up...

"S-Sans!" Papyrus yelled, struggling against the Malcom's grasp as he watched his older brother be kicked in the stomach. Sans groaned in pain and curled up in a ball.

…dammit.

 _DAMMIT ALL TO HELL_.

He had been sure. Papyrus had wanted to go outside and enjoy the sunlight, and who was Sans to deny him his wish?

…he had been so sure that they wouldn't be in the playground today, but he wasn't careful enough. He hadn't noticed that the bullies had been watching him from behind, he hadn't noticed that they had been following him.

Ricks' laugh made Sans snap out of his trance.  
"I almost feel bad every time I beat you up, you're so weak and useless." He kicked Sans in the leg as hard as he could. Sans flinched as he heard a small cracking noise.

That…was definitely going to leave a mark.

"Sans! _Sans_!" Papyrus yelled desperately, struggling harder and harder against his Malcom, who did nothing but laugh. Sans looked up at Papyrus shaking. He opened his mouth to say something but was quickly cut off when Zack kicked him in the head.

His head pounded painfully as he felt another crack build at the top of his right eye. Papyrus made a chocking sound, but Sans didn't pay him any attention. It hurt, it _hurt so bad_ , he just wanted it to end. He slowly looked up at Rick, who was grinning down at him.

"What's wrong, skele-freak? Not going to even try to defend yourself today?" Sans didn't say anything. No, he couldn't. Not when Papyrus was right there. He couldn't start a fight with his baby brother watching him. "Not gonna say anything? Well, whatever, fine by me!" Rick said, pulling back his hand. Sans flinched and closed his eyes tightly. He was going to use his claws, wasn't he…?

Papyrus cried out desperately and struggled against Malcom, who let him go in shock to the strange cry the little kid gave.

Sans was waiting for the pain to appear, waiting to be pierced by Ricks' claws.

…but the pain never came.

A cry of pain made Sans' eyes snap open again. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as he saw Papyrus' body slowly fall on the ground. His eyes widened more and more as he started to shake violently after Papyrus's unconscious body fell on the ground.

There were four deep scratch marks on his cheekbones, deep enough that they had made cracks appear in him. Sans felt his soul pulse against his chest brutally before he heard laughing from above him. He slowly clenched his hands.

"Would you look at that! What a loser!" Rick laughed with his friends as they looked down at Papyrus. Sans horror slowly started to drop. The lights in his eyes disappeared in a flash.

"He took the hit, and now he's got brand new cracks on that empty skull of his." Rick scoffed and shoved his hands into his pockets, pulling back his foot to kick Papyrus' unconscious body.

Just as he was about to

Sans appeared in front of him.

Rick's eyes widened, flinching back from shock and fear. Sans stood in front of Papyrus' body protectively, his eyes completely dark. He was doing something he had never done before.

He was using magic…

Sans' left eye had blue fire erupting from it.

" **D O N' M**."

Rick cowered in fear against his will. Sans looked terrifying. Magic was erupting from his soul in an abnormal and scary amount. His red scarf was tightly wrapped around his neck, standing out because the bright blue flames that Sans was emitting.

Rick shook in fear and gulped before he clenched his hands tightly and glared at Sans. He looked at Malcom and Zack, who were still staring at Sans in shock.

"W…what're you waiting for? Do something!" They snapped out of it, but still looked hesitant as they slowly walked towards Sans.

Sans watched them as if they were prey and he was the hunter.

…they were going to have a bad time.

Sans appeared behind the two the monsters before they knew what was going on and closed his hands. Malcom and Zacks souls turned blue, making their eyes widen as panic entered their bodies. Before they could react, Sans threw his hands to his sides.

They were sent flying in opposite directions until they eventually slammed into something and lost conscious, a sickening snap alerting Sans that they had definitely broken one or more bones. Glancing to his sides, Sans saw that Malcom had slammed against a tree while Zack had slammed against another one. But he wasn't done yet.

Rick's eyes widened as he threw himself back when Sans appeared in front of him, the terrifying expression still clear on his face. Rick took another step back but ended up tripping on a rock and falling on his butt. Tears of fear started to gather in his eyes. He shivered violently as he looked up at Sans, who was standing still and watching him.

"P…please, don't hurt me!" Rick pleaded pathetically. Sans didn't move, didn't even show any sign of having heard him. "I…I won't pick on you anymore!" Rick continued pleading, his tears starting to fall. "I'll never mess with your brother, either!"

Sans was quiet before the blue flames in his hands slowly started to fade. Rick smiled shakily and almost passed out with relief.

"Rick?" Sans muttered softly. Rick snapped his gaze up at him, flinching.

"Y-yes?" He stuttered, obviously still terrified.

Sans was quiet for a moment before he grinned darkly, his left eye shining brightly as he snapped his fingers. Rick watched in horror as two monster head-like creatures appeared on each side of Sans, each one glaring directly at him.

"."

Papyrus groaned softly as he slowly opened his eyes, feeling pain pulse through his whole body. He slowly sat up to find Sans sitting next to him, eyes dark. Papyrus' eyes widened as he looked around quickly.  
"Sans..?" He asked slowly. "Where did the three monsters go?"

Sans was quiet before looking up at his brother and smiled.  
"They won't be bothering us anytime soon, Pap." He said softly.

He definitely hadn't killed them. Malcom and Zack had regained conscious after a while and looked at Rick with horrified faces. Rick was laying on the ground, his HP at 1 only and his body smoking slightly.

Sans had glared at them, his eyes lighting with blue again as he threatened them with a bad time if they dared pick on anyone again. The two terrified monsters had then dragged their unconscious friend to the nurse, desperate to get away from Sans.

Papyrus stared at him before he sniffed then covered his face, starting to sob silently. Sans watched him with a blank expression.

"Sans…I…I want to go home." Papyrus sobbed out quietly, trying to wipe the tears from his face, but they were quickly replaced by new ones.

"I want to go home…I want to see dad…I miss our house…and I miss dad…I miss him so much," Sans didn't say anything, but the light had disappeared from his eyes. He slowly reached up and clutched his scarf tightly.

Papyrus kept crying as he kept trying to wipe his tears.

He froze when something warm was slowly wrapped around his neck.

He quickly looked up to see Sans missing his red scarf, and when Papyrus glanced down, he saw that Sans had wrapped it around his neck instead.

"I…miss home too, Pap." Sans muttered quietly, slightly scratching the back of his neck. Papyrus stared at him with wide eyes, not sure how to respond. "I miss our house, and I miss the lab, but most of all…" Sans started to shake slightly, tears starting to gather in his eye sockets.

"I miss dad."

Blue tears started to trail down Sans' cheekbones. He sniffed then looked up at Papyrus, who was crying harder from seeing his older brother weep, then slowly reached out and hugged him tightly.

"But…I…I still have you, Papyrus. And…and…as long as you're with me…t…then I _am_ home." He pulled away slowly with a painful yet happy smile.  
"And…d…do me a favor, yea, Pap? Keep my scarf, and keep it safe, so that…so that if you're ever scared, or lonely, or in pain…you can look at the red scarf, and know that no matter what, I'm with you, I'll be here to take care of you, and that I love you, Pap."

" _Sans, it'll be alright." Gaster comforted his son, rubbing his back. Sans wept against him, holding his lab coat tightly. It had, once again, happened. This was starting to become a common thing, and Gaster didn't like that at all.  
"B-but…i-it was so scary! I was alone! A-and I was so scared and I couldn't find you and I couldn't find Papyrus and and…" He couldn't finish before he burst into another set of tears. _

_Gaster smiled softly. Sans had a lot of nightmares, and tonight was no exception. He hated to see his son suffer this way, but…he might know the answer on how to help stop them…_

 _Very slowly and carefully, Gaster unwrapped his red scarf from his neck then slowly wrapped it around Sans', who looked up at him with wide tearful eyes. Gaster smiled brightly at his son, trying to seem reassuring._

" _No nightmare, no matter how scary, can hurt you in real life, Sans." He said softly as Sans sniffed. "But, I do know that no matter what, nightmares will still fill you with fear. But you need to be strong, you're strong, right Sans?" Sans sniffed and wiped his nose but nodded. Gaster smiled softly._

" _Can I trust you with something important?" Again, Sans nodded. "I know that nightmares are scary, but we need to find courage to get past them. You're a big, strong boy. So I think you're ready for this responsibility. So do me a favor…"_

 _His smile brightened as he spoke again, lighting touching his red scarf._

" _Keep this scarf, keep it safe. So that when you're scared, or lonely, or in pain, you can look down at this red scarf and remember me; remember that I love you, remember that I will always protect you, and remember that I will never let anything hurt you."_

 **Authors Note:**

 **My god, how long has it been since I've updated in this site? I'm super bad ;-;  
Also, I know this isn't the best one-shot, so I'm sowwy.  
I haven't written aaaanything in such a long time, so my writing is definitely not in the best shape.  
Anyways, I'm super anxious to see what you guys think tbh *smiles nervously and blushes* H-hopefully you guys liked it, leave a review to let me know what you guys thought. **

**Btw, if you like fantasy stories, you should check out my friends story, it's so fckn badass. I've been editing for her and her story is really good.**

 **Here's the website if you're interested ^~^**

 **story/69605928-misadventures-of-a-scaredy-cat-thief**

 **Have a good day everyone~**


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